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Capital One to buy Discover Financial in $35B stock deal

reuters.com

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Re: Capital One to buy Discover Financial in $35B stock deal

#51

Post by NoPedantsThanks »

nonethewiser wrote: post #48
BadHumans wrote: post #6

I've always heard Discover was a good company to work for and they had the best customer support. Capital One is the opposite of both of those things so I hope the government steps in here.

> I've always heard Discover was a good company to work for and they had the best customer support. Capital One is the opposite of both of those things so I hope the government steps in here. You want the government to step in because you don’t like what you’ve heard about capital one’s customer service and work culture?

That's what he said. There's nothing wrong with it, either.

And don't bother pretending to think that he wants the government to use his opinion as justification. That's obviously where you're going, so don't insult the rest of us by continuing.

Re: Capital One to buy Discover Financial in $35B stock deal

#52

Post by tareqak »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #18
BadHumans wrote: post #6

I've always heard Discover was a good company to work for and they had the best customer support. Capital One is the opposite of both of those things so I hope the government steps in here.

I know someone who wasted two years trying to use a capital one secured credit card to help rebuild their credit history. The initial card offer was a $300 secured card and they figured it was the best they could do, ho hum, and just patiently plugged away For two years, they used the card routinely, paid if off religiously...sometimes having a monthly spend three times the limit. They would periodically request eith…

This story parallels the stories here of people staying at their employer hoping to get raises, but then ultimately switching to another one who values their experience more than their former employer.

Re: Capital One to buy Discover Financial in $35B stock deal

#53

Post by MuffinFlavored »

coder543 wrote: post #45
MuffinFlavored wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In Europe, credit card processing fees are generally lower compared to other regions, partly due to regulatory caps on interchange fees. For consumer debit and credit cards issued within the European Economic Area (EEA), the interchange fees are capped at 0.2% and 0.3% of the transaction value, respectively. However, total processing costs for merchants can be higher once all fees are included, often ranging from 1…

You seem to be quoting ChatGPT, and you're not even specifying that it's ChatGPT-4, so I automatically assume ChatGPT-3.5, which hallucinates at an astonishing rate. Regardless, all current LLMs can hallucinate. As ChatGPT's disclaimer says, "ChatGPT can make mistakes. Consider checking important information." A non-GPT source: https://www.lendingtree.com/credit-cards/articles/na-vs-eu-i... Quoting the relevant state…

I’m using ChatGPT 4

You keep talking about interchange fees

That’s one part of the equation

Re: Capital One to buy Discover Financial in $35B stock deal

#54

Post by TheGoodBarn »

BadHumans wrote: post #6

I've always heard Discover was a good company to work for and they had the best customer support. Capital One is the opposite of both of those things so I hope the government steps in here.

> “Capital One is the opposite of both those things”

I am biased, I worked for Capital One out of college for 4 years as a software engineer and had a wonderful experience. It was the best place for me to learn industry and professional engineering, and I felt the company culture / company itself was a fantastic place to work. So respectfully I disagree.

Re: Capital One to buy Discover Financial in $35B stock deal

#55

Post by NoPedantsThanks »

op00to wrote: post #10
BadHumans wrote: post #6

I've always heard Discover was a good company to work for and they had the best customer support. Capital One is the opposite of both of those things so I hope the government steps in here.

Amex treats me far better than Discover.

Oh yeah, AmEx, the company that detects fraud on your account, cancels it, and then DOESN'T NOTIFY YOU.

So you start getting notifications from vendors that they canceled your orders right before Christmas, because of trouble with your card. When you call AmEx and ask why the fuck you weren't notified of fraud on your account, they say (and I quote): "Oh we don't do that. We wait for the customer to get in touch with us."

The monumental stupidity and irresponsibility of this "policy" should be evident and disqualifying.

Re: Capital One to buy Discover Financial in $35B stock deal

#56

Post by coder543 »

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #53
coder543 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to be quoting ChatGPT, and you're not even specifying that it's ChatGPT-4, so I automatically assume ChatGPT-3.5, which hallucinates at an astonishing rate. Regardless, all current LLMs can hallucinate. As ChatGPT's disclaimer says, "ChatGPT can make mistakes. Consider checking important information." A non-GPT source: https://www.lendingtree.com/credit-cards/articles/na-vs-eu-i... Quoting the relevant state…

I’m using ChatGPT 4 You keep talking about interchange fees That’s one part of the equation

https://www.clearlypayments.com/blog/interchange-fees-by-cou...

"If your business wants to accept credit cards, you’ll need to pay a fee. Interchange makes up the bulk of that cost which merchants pay, roughly 75% it."

It makes sense that people are focusing on the interchange fees.

I have not found a single source that indicates European merchants have fees that are comparable in scale to their North American counterparts. If you want to make that argument, you should find an actual source.

> Do North American consumers/merchants pay less in processing fees overall than European/Asian counterparts or is it roughly 1-3% all over the world?

The answer seems to be the opposite. North American merchants pay more.

Re: Capital One to buy Discover Financial in $35B stock deal

#57

Post by NoPedantsThanks »

coder543 wrote: post #45
MuffinFlavored wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In Europe, credit card processing fees are generally lower compared to other regions, partly due to regulatory caps on interchange fees. For consumer debit and credit cards issued within the European Economic Area (EEA), the interchange fees are capped at 0.2% and 0.3% of the transaction value, respectively. However, total processing costs for merchants can be higher once all fees are included, often ranging from 1…

You seem to be quoting ChatGPT, and you're not even specifying that it's ChatGPT-4, so I automatically assume ChatGPT-3.5, which hallucinates at an astonishing rate. Regardless, all current LLMs can hallucinate. As ChatGPT's disclaimer says, "ChatGPT can make mistakes. Consider checking important information." A non-GPT source: https://www.lendingtree.com/credit-cards/articles/na-vs-eu-i... Quoting the relevant state…

It doesn't "hallucinate." It provides incorrect output. That is all.

Re: Capital One to buy Discover Financial in $35B stock deal

#58

Post by lokar »

xp84 wrote: post #36
toomuchtodo wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.axios.com/2023/07/22/fednow-instant-payments-cre... Networks (credit card rails) are dead long term. Capital One is buying a less than prime customer base instead of organic growth (plus the deposits). The profit is in the revolving interest on a customer base that carries a balance, not the interchange and network. https://investorrelations.discover.com/newsroom/press-releas... This should come as no sur…

Regarding your New Republic link: I find a lot of these kinds of critiques of subprime lending to be disturbingly patronizing. The notion that some third party (the government, presumably) ought to be decreeing that people whose credit is (in this article’s words) so bad that they can’t qualify for a $300 limit at 27% interest, should just not be allowed to access legal credit at all. Terms get worse as you prove you…

The same companies that argue against rate limits also oppose rules that require the terms to be explained in writing in a way a high school dropout would understand (eg how much would you pay in total if you take 3/6/9/12 months to repay). And in a normal font size.

Re: Capital One to buy Discover Financial in $35B stock deal

#59

Post by NoPedantsThanks »

dylan604 wrote: post #27
AzzyHN wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, T-Mobile bought Sprint. Antitrust laws might as well not exist in America

I mean, Spirit wasn't sold to JetBlue, and Adobe/Figma called off their courtship (likely due to fear of regulator disapproval) with in the past few months. But before T-mobile bought Sprint, ATT was blocked from acquiring T-mobile.

This is a recent uptick in enforcement actions.

Meanwhile, TicketMaster/LiveNation/(scalping thing) has demonstrated a textbook consumer-harming monopoly for DECADES with impunity. DECADES.

And politicians and agencies wave hands over "inflation" while the four U.S. meat producers report 90% profit increases (after whining about a "labor shortage"). NINETY PERCENT increases.

Corporate toadies in Congress sit back and pretend that the Fed's feckless interest-rate hikes are all we can do. Disgusting.

Re: Capital One to buy Discover Financial in $35B stock deal

#60

Post by coder543 »

NoPedantsThanks wrote: post #57
coder543 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to be quoting ChatGPT, and you're not even specifying that it's ChatGPT-4, so I automatically assume ChatGPT-3.5, which hallucinates at an astonishing rate. Regardless, all current LLMs can hallucinate. As ChatGPT's disclaimer says, "ChatGPT can make mistakes. Consider checking important information." A non-GPT source: https://www.lendingtree.com/credit-cards/articles/na-vs-eu-i... Quoting the relevant state…

It doesn't "hallucinate." It provides incorrect output. That is all.

"Hallucination" is a widely understood and accepted term in the LLM industry. If you want to change that, replying to my comment doesn't seem to be the most effective place to start. I don't know that it's the best term, but it seems better than re-explaining the issue in detail every time.

"Incorrect output" is broader, encompassing other failure modes. If you ask an LLM to respond in JSON with a list of common foods, and it instead writes a paragraph of text that contains a list of common foods, then that would not qualify as a "hallucination" by my understanding of the accepted definition, but it is still "incorrect output".

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